Chris, This is not a series of columns, but just one big column...... You created one big concatenated string. Try the 'set colsep ,' command in sqlplus to change the column-delimiter to a comma, and forget about the ||','|| thingies. Regards, Carel-Jan === If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. (Derek Bok) === > sure, the titles stop at h.NAICS_CODE||'","'||.... > > SET LINESIZE 32767 > SET PAGES 10000 > SET LINES 1024 > > ACCEPT fac_id NUMBER PROMPT 'Enter fac_id:' > > spool c:\FAC_CHAR.txt > > select h.FAC_ID ||'","'|| > h.ORIS_CODE||'","'|| > h.FACILITY_NAME||'","'|| -- snip > a.SEAS_CD||'","'|| > a.RETIRE_DATE||'","'|| > a.USERID||'","'|| > a.UPDATE_DATE||'","'|| > a.ADD_DATE||'","'|| > a.INDICATOR_CD > FROMl a, > b, > c, > d, -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l